A Leap into the Universe

12.04.2021 10:30

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The First Manned Spaceflight. Komsomolskaya Pravda of April 13, 1961

“Acknowledged: one-minute readiness. I am in the launch position…”

After April 12, 1961, people around the world could have dreamed of flying into space. Yuri Gagarin’s flight was a milestone in the history of the development of mankind. Today, one could easily imagine cosmonaut crews busily working at the ISS. Yet, precisely 60 years ago, the flight of a cosmonaut was the greatest risk imaginable, an unthinkable event with an unknown outcome. Yet, people believed in the success of the endeavor. Thanks to his own courage and boldness and the effort of many dedicated people, Yuri Gagarin landed successfully at 10:55 near the village of Smelovka.

On 9:00 on April 12, 1961, one-minute pre-launch readiness was announced at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Sergey Pavlovich Korolev tested communications: “One-minute readiness. Do you hear me?” Gagarin, with the call sign Kedr, responded: “Acknowledged: one-minute readiness. I am in the launch position…”

The tension increased every second. At 9:03:00, the “Key to Start” command was issued. From then on, events came down to a second timeframe. One after another, pre-launch commands were given. The last command issued was “Ignition” at 9:06:51. At 9:07, Kedr cried over the speaker the now famous phrase: “Off we go!” as he departs for the first human spaceflight. For a more detailed timeline, follow this link.

Today, even university students can design and launch their own rockets, space tourism is making great strides, and private companies have joined an industry previously dominated by state-owned enterprises.

Recent years’ achievements

Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko with a bioprinter at the ISS during a space experiment titled Magnetic 3D Bioprinter

Mankind has evidenced many remarkable events over the recent years: the discovery of water on the Moon, a closer inspection of the Sun, the chipping of pieces from an asteroid, the landing on Mars and even the receipt of photos from the Red Planet.

A unique shot of a dark spot on the Sun obtained by the Parker probe

In 2015, the astronaut Mikhail Kornienko spent a whole year at the ISS. In 2016, rockets were launched in Russia from the new Vostochny cosmodrome. In 2018, Russia had experimented for the first time in history with three-dimensional bioprinting of human and mouse tissues in space as six small samples of human cartilage tissue and six samples of mouse thyroid tissue were printed.

Martian landscape. The photo was taken on April 8, 2021 from the left navigation camera of the NASA Mars Perseverance rover

The same year, Russia broke the record for delivering cargo to the ISS as the Progress MS-09 cargo ship, having been launched from Baikonur, docked with the ISS in a record short time – 3 hours and 40 minutes. Later, in 2020, the record was beaten for crew deliveries: the Soyuz MS-17 manned spacecraft delivered a crew from Baikonur in 3 hours and 3 minutes. Over the past two years, 2019 and 2020, Roscosmos has boasted a zero-accident series of fifty successful space launches.

Already in 2020, Roscosmos, together with Channel One, even announced the shooting of a feature film, tentatively titled The Challenge, at the ISS in 2021.

Upcoming Events

This year marks 60 years since the first human flight into space. According to the Roscosmos website, the Museum of Cosmonautics which is the host to several exhibitions, will become the central site of the anniversary’s festivities:

an exhibition, The First One, at the Museum of Cosmonautics will tell more about the life of Yuri Gagarin and his first spaceflight. Documents and personal belongings of the cosmonaut will be on display at the exhibition. Objects from the years of his studies will be shown for the first time. The exhibition will tell about Yuri Gagarin’s path to the stars.
A tablet exhibition, Moscow Meets the First One! will be installed along Tversky Boulevard to show Yuri Gagarin’s arrival in Moscow. The exhibition will display archive photographs from collections of the Museum of Cosmonautics and TASS.
Exhibition, Profession: Cosmonaut, in the History Museum of Smolensk will tell about the difficult profession and the problems that had to be solved in space. The exhibition will also feature genuine objects that had been to the International Space Station.

More details can be found on the museum’s website.

Scientific Russia congratulates everyone with the Cosmonautics Day!

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